House Republicans Seek to Fulfill Campaign Pledge on Budget

Republicans, led by House Speaker John Boehner, pledged to cut $100 billion from the budget. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.

The battle over President Obama’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year was so yesterday. (Though, he’ll have the chance to give the hard sell at his 11 a.m. ET news conference.)

Dramatic spending cuts for the remainder of this current fiscal year will be on the floor of the House of Representatives Tuesday. You may recall that Democrats in Congress failed to pass a budget last year. That has left the federal government operating on a continuing resolution based on previous funding levels. The current continuing resolution is set to expire on March 4.

House Republicans campaigned on a pledge to cut $100 billion from the budget this year, and they’re seeking to fulfill that pledge (after some freshmen and Tea Party-backed members made clear to the leadership that this was the highest priority) as they kick off Tuesday’s debate about how to fund the government through Sept. 30.

“House Republicans want to cut $61 billion from the budget, which would amount to the most significant government contraction since the end of World War II. Decried as ‘dire’ and ‘disturbing’ by Democrats, the plan has become a test for how far Republicans are willing to go in order to deliver on the promise of fiscal austerity that GOP candidates pledged last year to voters,” write Shailagh Murray and Paul Kane of the Washington Post.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with House Speaker John Boehner on Monday to express her concern about the cuts to foreign aid, which she described as “devastating to our national security.”

Three days of amendment and debate may cause for a chaotic display of democracy on the House floor prior to Thursday’s expected vote on the spending bill.

Of course, the political reality insists that what passes out of the House is not likely to pass the Senate, so negotiations are inevitable. Without much time before the government runs out of funding, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisc,, predicted short-term extensions are likely to both avoid a government shutdown and allow more time for deal-making.

“We don’t want to see a shutdown occur, but at the same time we don’t want to rubberstamp these current levels of spending,” Ryan told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America,” adding, “We’re going to have to negotiate some short term extensions.”

HIGHEST HONOR

President and Mrs. Obama on Tuesday will honor 15 people who have made “especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors” with the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the highest civilian honor in the country.

The award was established by President Harry Truman in 1945 to honor service in World War II and was reinvented by President John F. Kennedy to include civilian service.

The recipients, announced in November 2010, span a wide range of professions, including politics, the arts, finance and sports.

Here’s a partial list of who will receive the 2010 Medal of Freedom. You can see a full list here.

• President George H. W. Bush
• Chancellor Angela Merkel, first female and East German to lead unified Germany.
• Congressman John Lewis, Democratic Representative from Georgia who organized protests during the Civil Rights movement and was the youngest speaker during the 1963 March on Washington.
• Yo-Yo Ma, world-renowned cellist.
• Bill Russell, former Boston Celtic, 11-time champion and first African-American coach in the NBA.

ROCKING THE GRANITE STATE

If the New Hampshire Republican primary were being held this month instead of a year from now, Mitt Romney would have to be feeling pretty good about his chances.

As it is, the former Massachusetts governor is the clear early front-runner in the first primary state, holding a commanding 30-point lead in the WMUR Granite State poll released Monday. His next closest competitors are former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani with 10 percent and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, each with 7 percent.

The rest of the GOP field shaped up like this: former House speaker Newt Gingrich and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin each garnered 6 percent; Texas Rep. Ron Paul received 5 percent; 3 percent backed businessman Donald Trump; and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and Mississippi governor Haley Barbour were supported by 1 percent each. (Be sure to read Jonathan Martin and Ben Smith of POLITICO on Sarah Palin’s potential problems in the key early states.)

And there’s more good news for Romney: He’s viewed favorably by 73 percent of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire, compared with 16 percent who view him unfavorably. The least popular Republicans are Palin, whose net favorable rating is minus-17 percent and Trump, at minus-43 percent.

The University of New Hampshire Survey Center conducted the poll for WMUR. The director of the UNH Survey Center, Andrew Smith, said Romney’s brand of Republicanism matches up well with New Hampshire Republicans. “New Hampshire is one of the least religious states in the country, and social conservatives have difficulty winning here. Fiscal issues are much more potent in the Granite State,” Smith told WMUR.

Romney lost the 2008 New Hampshire Republican primary to eventual GOP nominee John McCain, 37 percent to 32 percent. To be the Republican standard-bearer this time around, Romney will almost certainly need to come away with a victory.

Despite Romney’s strong lead at this stage of the race, there’s plenty of hope for the other Republican contenders. Seventy-eight percent of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire said they have not decided whom they will vote for, compared to just 7 percent who responded they have definitely made up their minds.

NewsHour producer Terence Burlij contributed to this report.

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